Fantasy sports: First half MLB stars shine bright

As the Major League Baseball season enters its second half, it is time to engage in the undeniable urge toward instant nostalgia and look back on the first half that was.

This is an especially necessary act when it comes to baseball. These guys have already played more than 80 games, after all, so they deserve some notice before they start to lose our attention now that NFL training camps are opening.

So to that end, here is my first-half fantasy baseball all-star team:

C: Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers

This was an interesting spot to award, for Lucroy isn't so much surpassing expectations, but the people drafted above him are all failing to reach them. To be fair, however, Lucroy is putting together what should prove to be his best major league season.

He is batting .315 heading into the second half, just off his career-high .320 that came in 2012. His nine homers and 44 RBIs trend around the career highs of 18 and 82 that he posted last season. Putting them all together into one season while players like Buster Posey, Joe Mauer and Carlos Santana fall short of their goals lifts Lucroy's stature.

1B: Jose Abreu, White Sox

Drafting Cuban defectors is always tricky, for we don't want to get our hopes too high just to be disappointed and feel like we should have known better.

?With the way players like Yoenis Cespedes, Yasiel Puig and Abreu are performing, though, we may do well to start buying into a little more of the hype.

Cespedes may have won the All-Star Home Run Derby, but Abreu is ahead in the more important derby, pacing the majors with 29 bombs through the first half. That's helped lead to 73 RBIs and packaging those with a .292 average adds to up to great value for those who took the Cuban jump before the rest of their league.

2B: Anthony Rendon, Nationals

Rendon has played more games this season at third base (73) than second base (24), but those are still enough games to qualify him at the position in any league, and that gives him way more value.

Then there is the value he gets from being drafted somewhere around the 20th round in most leagues, a spot from which it is impossible to really hurt a fantasy team.

And now instead he is actually helping, batting .287 with 13 homers, 53 RBIs and 8 steals.

3B, Todd Frazier, Reds

It almost pains me to slate Frazier here after his poor performance in the Home Run Derby.

If you had any fantasy stake attached to that contest, however, you have a bigger problem than me.

In the regular season — you know, where those with the regular level of problems put their efforts — Frazier has fared better, lofting 19 homers through the first half, already matching the number he put up the last two seasons. His 53 RBIs and 57 runs are also on pace to be new career highs.

Frazier's 14 steals are already the best of his career and his .290 average is quite a jump from last season's mark of .234. At age 28, you start to discount the chances of a breakout campaign from someone who had already seen major league action for three seasons, but Frazier is providing one.

OF: Michael Brantley, Indians

Brantley isn't having one of those complete breakout seasons, but he is doing everything a little better than he has before.

It starts with average, where the career .284 hitter is batting .322. After posting a career-high 10 homers last season, Brantley has already hit 15. His 63 RBIs are bound to easily eclipse last season's 73 and his 10 steals should grow enough to challenge the 17 he posted in 2013.

SP: Johnny Cueto, Reds

You heard all about it heading into the All-Star game, and yes, Felix Hernandez, Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw are all putting together rather fantastic seasons. Those seasons cost you at the draft, however, where Cueto's fantastic numbers came at a much more reasonable price.

So if you own him, and maybe picked him while recalling how once upon a time (though Cueto is only 28) he was supposed to be great, you deserve congratulations. For that bold move, you have received 10 wins, a 2.13 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, .181 opponents' batting average and 141 strikeouts in 143.2 innings.

Cueto is now going to cost next year, too.

RP: Francisco Rodriguez, Brewers

We weren't supposed to have to worry about the reliever formerly known as K-Rod anymore. Then on Opening Day, Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke let him enter the ninth inning instead of expected closer Jim Henderson and suddenly everyone is paying attention again.

Rodriguez has 27 saves, his most since 2009, and is getting them efficiently, with a 2.58 ERA and 0.90 WHIP. He has also struck out 52 batters in 45.1 innings.